Legal Criticism of the Agreement to Establish a Free Trade Area between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union

Bilateral and multilateral economic contracts have an undeniable role in the field of international trade between countries. They even affect their political relations. The process of globalization to regionalism has also increased the importance of such agreements. Therefore, it is very important to get familiar with the provisions and structure of the contract and analyze its content. One of these important agreements is the agreement to establish a free trade zone between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union. After the signing of the temporary agreement to establish a free trade zone between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union in 2018 and after that, with the signing of the permanent agreement in the winter of 2011, less attention was paid to the legal analysis of this practical agreement, especially from the point of view of measuring its compliance with legal principles. The writings of this topic are only news or contain political and economic analysis. Therefore, this article seeks to answer the research question in order to partially solve this research gap, considering the practical importance of the issue.  Also, so far, a series of standard principles governing the regulation of contracts have not been specifically presented in any Persian or even English writings, Principles derived from customs and international documents, whether written or unwritten, are observed.This research is presented in two parts: The first part deals with the concepts and basics of the subject and the second part reviews the general principles governing the regulation of regional and international agreements and their compliance in the agreement to establish a free trade zone. At the end, practical policy solutions and recommendations are suggested to the benefit groups of this article.Research Question: to what extent are the discussed temporary and permanent agreements compatible with the legal principles governing the regional and international agreements? And what are the consequences of not paying attention to the standard principles for Iran?Research Hypothesis: The hypothesis of this article is that the drafters of the agreement have partially respected some principles and did not fully respect some other principles, therefore, it may bring several legal challenges and negatively affect Iran's cooperation with the members of the Union.

In this way, while explaining and defining concepts such as free trade agreement and its difference with preferential trade agreement and brief introduction of the discussed agreement, in this article, the standard principles governing the drafting of the agreement and the analysis of the compliance of the agreement with the standard principles have been discussed.

The signing of the agreement to create a free zone between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union has many legal and economic benefits for our country; for example, it can be used as a practical exercise for accepting free trade agreements, creating stability and transparency in trade laws in the fields of export and import and customs, etc. future accession to the World Trade Organization and the development of economic relations with neighboring countries. However, in order to be able to benefit from the practical benefits and the intended goals of such an agreement, legal points should be considered along with the political and economic aspects of the issue. One of these legal points is the need to pay attention to the general legal principles governing the regulation of regional and international agreements. They assist regulators and commentators and the dispute resolution authority in interpreting and effectively implementing the agreement. Among the principles mentioned in the article, the principle of paying attention to international norms, the principle of national behavior, the principle of transparency and the principle of the most favored nations (MFN) have been received relative attention in Agreement. However, the principle of compliance, the principle of fulfilling obligations and the principle of honesty and simplicity of the agreement have not been taken into consideration. Failure to pay attention to the above principles causes legal problems and hinders the implementation of the contract between them and has negative effects on their economic interests even in private relations between businessmen. Undoubtedly, this can have a direct and indirect negative effect on Iran's relations with the other five member countries of the Union. Trade is at a very wide level between the Iranian government and five foreign governments. Naturally, the risk management approach requires that the drafters of the agreement, according to the above-mentioned principles, anticipate and manage the risks of interpretation and implementation of the agreement, as the current text can potentially be the basis of many legal disputes and the result of these disputes is not only a legal dispute but also negatively affect Iran's cooperation with Eurasian governments in other sectors.

Considering that paragraph 3 of article 9 of the temporary agreement and article 45 of the permanent agreement provide the possibility of amending the articles of the agreement with the written consent of the members and this document will not be implemented until the internal approval of the agreement, it is suggested to review the principles mentioned and the suggestions presented in the text of the article in the existing text.